I agree with Toni and Rob...both sides are equally guilty, though the Hatfields had meaner people. Jim Vance was by far the worst, but even Devll Anse himself ended up being someone worthy of going to hell when he denied any mercy to the 3 McCoy boys despite the pleas of both their father and mother. Plus, remember the scene near the beginning (and was used in the trailers) when Devil Anse killed the second boy in the Union uniform, simply because he didn't want any witnesses? Randall McCoy had a relative who fought for the Union and did nothing to him, unlike Jim Vance. Devil Anse also threw Cotton Top "under the bus" (yes I know there were no buses back then) rather than try to plea for his release.

As far as Randall McCoy running out the back door, he originally did not want to do that. His wife and the one son who was eventually killed in front convinced him to do that. The reasoning behind it was that it was hoped if Randall was not there, the Hatfield posse would go away and leave the rest of the family alone. However when the Hatfields set fire to the house, everything changed, and even Jim Vance admitted to Devil Anse that things turned out badly.

The only McCoy that I thought would have any sort of mental illness was Randall himself, and it was clearly PTSD from the war and being a POW. That could explain why he had that "They're out to get me" mentality and definitely a factor in how he became an alcoholic.

The documentary that was cited earlier is interesting (so far...I'm only a half-hour into it) in its discussion of the feud's origins. Basically, everybody agrees that nobody has a clue what started it, but it must have had something to do with the Civil War because before that the families coexisted in peace for a half century, and then all hell breaks loose.

They also played a little game with the infuriating tendency of shows like this to present an expert giving a controversial theory as if it's established fact, and then not giving any kind of context for the theory. On the question of the McCoys' allegiances during the Civil War, they had one expert categorically state that while a few were Union soldiers, most were Confederate sympathizers, followed immediately by another expert who categorically stated that they were all Union men.

But then they lost points by suggesting that Devil Anse took part in the first murder (of the Union McCoy), when everything I've seen (not much, granted) says that it was conclusively proven that he was home sick when the murder took place.

As far as Randall McCoy running out the back door, he originally did not want to do that. His wife and the one son who was eventually killed in front convinced him to do that. The reasoning behind it was that it was hoped if Randall was not there, the Hatfield posse would go away and leave the rest of the family alone. However when the Hatfields set fire to the house, everything changed, and even Jim Vance admitted to Devil Anse that things turned out badly.

According to the documentary, Randolph didn't leave until the house was on fire, the girl and boy were dead, and his wife was beaten nearly to death and left for dead. Then and only then did he run away.

I've only skimmed a few pages of this thread because we're only half way through the first part but...

Does anyone know why the language was edited? Seems kind of silly since I believe this is the first time it's aired anywhere.

We recorded a 4pm re-airing of the first part and the words were bleeped. But the other two were recorded during prime time and nothing was bleeped. I thought it was because of the time slot of the re-airing.

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I want to know how the families kept meeting up at voting sites when they were in different states.

The little bit of the documentary I saw said that it was common for people from out of state to come to the election meetings even if they couldn't vote. It was a social time and they often had family in the other state.

Remember, this was on the border of the states, so it was just across the river.

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The first airings ran a few minutes over, so if subsequent airings were exactly two hours I doubt they made up the difference by cutting commercials...

I already said that earlier in the thread! The first 2 airings of the first episode, and I THINK the second episode, were a bit over 2 hours.. (I think 2:06 for the first ep, 2:10ish for the 2nd).

The documentary was somewhat interesting.. When I heard Costner, I thought immediately it was JUST going to be an ad for the miniseries, using clips from the miniseries.. But it didn't. It had more detail in some areas (family tree, exact years) than the miniseries.

The little bit of the documentary I saw said that it was common for people from out of state to come to the election meetings even if they couldn't vote. It was a social time and they often had family in the other state.

Remember, this was on the border of the states, so it was just across the river.

In addition, the Hatfields and the McCoys (and others) sold merchandise (moonshine in particular) at these events. I called them "carnivals" earlier but they were closer to that than elections.

If Amway and Tupperware were around back then, I'm sure the families would be selling these too.

Might have been the timeslot as others have mentioned. We recorded all 3 in one night - the first had some things edited out but the second didn't and it would have aired later in the evening. Just bits of curse words muted out here and there.

I think what amazes me is the amount of lawlessness. Not only did they decide to take matters into their own hands but they had total disregard for the law afterward. "Well they killed my brother so I am going to kill them". I sure am glad I did not live back then.

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I think what amazes me is the amount of lawlessness. Not only did they decide to take matters into their own hands but they had total disregard for the law afterward. "Well they killed my brother so I am going to kill them". I sure am glad I did not live back then.

A lot was changed but IMO not to the point where it affected the story. For example the Wall Hatfield (Powers Boothe) character was a compilation of two Hatfield judges/magistrates- "Preacher Anse" Hatfield and Walls "Deacon" Hatfield.

"Desertion" is hard to figure- from my own family letters I know that my ancestors from this area regularly stopped fighting in the war to go back home for a spell. When the crop was in or the baby born they went back to fighting. They literally took vacations from the war.
If you browse through the muster rolls you see them present, not present, and back and forth.

The real reason I popped back in here is to tell y'all that The History Channel is airing a documentary tomorrow June 2 at 4pm est- America's Greatest Feud: The History of the Hatfields and McCoys.
Two hours, made in 2012 so seems to be new.

I wouldn't put much faith in the History Channel when it comes to accuracy. They've just run a series called "The Men Who Built America," and it was apparently almost all fiction. I googled the name of the series plus "accurate," and there are several blogs that point out all the inaccuracies.

Really liked the mini-series. I knew Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton were in it and recognized them of course as well as many others, but I had no idea Tom Berenger was in it doing a great job playing the despicable Jim Vance until well after the mini-series was over. What a great acting job, reminds me of him in Platoon.